Flight of the One Winged Angel
by D-Scythe
Summary: Who is he? Why do I keep having this dream? His eyes are so cold, so very cold, and I feel like they can see into my soul. What does he want? Why is he coming here? And why does he look so much like...
1. Frozen eyes and Burning Wing

Disclaimer: I do not own Escaflowne or any inherent characters, locations, or mecha.

****

Flight of the One Winged Angel

Smoke billowed up from the scorched soil, choking the sky in a black haze. Red rays of sunlight lanced weakly through the shifting clouds of ash. Gigantic bits of wreckage loomed here and there in the dim light, discernible only as broken armored hulks. Broken swords and broken bodies littered across the blasted ground and fires still guttered fitfully in hollows.

__

I know this isn't real…

Piteous moans rise from a few too injured to move. A few soldiers were still alive, powerless to anything but lie in agony and await the relief of death.

__

Why do I keep having this dream? Why do I keep seeing these things? It's been so long…

A shape strides purposefully through the fog, resolving slowly into a tall man dressed in flowing black robes. His hair is completely white and hangs to his waist. And his face… His face is perfect, angelic and unmarred. But his eyes reflect the fire around him, reflect it and multiply it a thousand times over so that they blaze with a cold fire that seems to consume all that they see. He stares blankly ahead, then raises his head to gaze into the roiling heavens.

__

Who is_ he? And why do I feel like those eyes can see right into my soul? His eyes reflect the fire, but they're so cold… So very, very cold…_

The clouds explode away from his gaze, and a brilliant white pillar of light descends to engulf him in a nimbus of pure whiteness. And still his eyes are burning…

Directly in the center of his gaze, two moons hang in the sky. He doesn't blink, his eyes never leave those two distant globes. A single glowing wing rises and spreads from the center of his back. It stretches to the limit revealing every feather and pinion in translucent majesty. Then, with no movement at all, he begins to rise gracefully on the beam of light. As he disappears into the sky, the clouds of smoke iris closed like a trap and the fires swell to consume everything…

__

Why is he coming here? What does he want? And why does he look so much like-

"Van!" Hitome cried, sitting bolt upright in her bed as sweat poured down her brow, matting her brown hair to her forehead. With a gentle sob, she collapsed back among the bedding she had kicked into disarray. She hugged her pillow to her chest and curled around it, trying not to cry.

It was the same dream, always the same, never changing for the past four years. The same man striding through the carnage. The same angel's face with demon eyes, eyes which would burn forth and consume the world…

Four years of waking every night sobbing the name of the only one she had ever loved. _Why do I call his name? _HE_ doesn't look like Van. If anything, he looks live Allen. But those eyes…_

"Oh Van," she whispered into her pillow, "Why won't they stop? It's not as if I could go back. I've already tried, already tried to go back to Van… So why am I having visions I can't do anything about?"

With one last sigh, her eyes closed and she slept once more, dreamless then, until dawn.

* * *

The next night Hitome awoke again, startled awake by the same awful vision of death and carnage, that same burning eyed angel with one glowing wing. But for the first time in four years it had been different. This night, he had strode through the battle field with one arm stretched before him, hand clenched tight about something that glowed with a violent redness through the flesh of his hands. When he stopped in his accustomed spot, he opened his hand and something dropped down on a thin golden chain. It glowed insanely in his grasp and his eyes became white hot chips of ice as he stared at the planet above him.

It was pink fragment of a drag-energist, and as it swung from his fingers, it kept perfect time…

Hitome shuddered and reached over to hit the light switch beside her bed. Instead, he fingers brushed against the knobby bark of a tree root. Hitome's eyes snapped open to stare across a field of tall grass waving gently in the night wind. Amid the millions of diamond stars, the Earth and the Moon hung distantly in the night sky.

__

I'm back! I've finally come back to Gaea, to Van! But why now? Does this mean that HE_'s here?_

She hugged her knees to her breast for a moment before rising slowly to her feet. She turned to look at the ancient tree she had been sleeping against. To her surprise, there was a sword driven into the ground near the trunk. Hitome blinked a few times and walked over to inspect it. A diamond shaped crest winked at her in the bright moonlight. _That's, isn't that Fenelia's crest?_ She was about to look up in surprise when something else caught her eye. A small golden chain had been looped through the guard of the hilt, at the end was a small red stone fixed in gold. _My pendant!_

Hitome burst to her feet and stared wildly about her, searching desperately for Van. "Van!" she called into the night, "Van are you there?"

The wind whispered and a few crickets buzzed but there was only silence to answer her. With a sigh she turned back to the tree. A shadowy figure stood beneath its branches holding the royal sword towards her in a threatening stance.

"Who are you? What do you want with the King of Fenelia?" The sword jerked with deadly intent and it's brilliant edge glimmered in the soft white light from the mystic moon. Sudenly, the pendant affixed to the sword blazed to life illumining both of their startled faces.

"Van?"

"Hitome?"

The light from the pendant faded leaving the two of them standing face to face beneath the gaze of a million stars and two moons.

"Oh Van, I've missed you so much." With that she stepped forward and fell into his arms, embracing him and wishing she would never have to let him go.

* * *

Hitome awoke with the light of dawn slanting through the window of a guest room that had been hastily prepared for her use. _Oh please, don't let it have been a dream._ She opened her eyes and cried out happily to see the city of Fenelia spread out beyond her window. There was a gentle knock at her door.

Hitome stretched and yawned, took a moment to arrange her night gown about herself in a bit more modest fashion, then called out cheerfully. "Come in!"

The door opened slightly and an orange and white furred face poked through. "Hitome?" The door burst open and a furry shape in a yellow dress leapt across the room to grab her in a giant hug.

"Is that you Merle?"

Merle slid off the bed, regaining her composure a bit. "Mm hmm, I can't believe it's really you Hitome."

Hitome took a moment to size her old friend up. "My you've grown, Merle."

"Hmm, speak for yourself!"

Hitome smiled and opened her mouth to speak when a someone spoke from the doorway.

"Hitome."

Her eyes flashed to meet his and words welled up in her throat. _Oh great, I haven't seen him in years, and now that I'm finally back, I don't know what to say!_

They considered each other across the room, each silent, considering what to say. Merle looked from one to the other. Then dropped her head into her paws with a sigh. "Oh please, one of you should just spit it out."

Van smiled a bit unsure of himself.

Merle rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you've both been rehearsing this moment for years, so as a reminder, I'll bet it goes a bit like this." She clasped her paws to her heart and began sarcastically. "Oh Van! I've missed you so much!" She adopted a serious expression and dropped her voice ridiculously, "Oh Hitome, I've dreamed of this day." "Oh Van, I love you and I want you and-"

At this point her words were transformed into a yowl of surprise as Hitome whacked the back of her head with her pillow.

Van burst out laughing. Merle bristled, "It's not funny, I almost bit my tongue!"

Still chuckling, Van strode across the room and took Hitome's hand. He pulled her gently to her feet and said, "It seems as if Merle's better at this than we are."

Hitome smiled and saw her own eyes reflected in his. He lowered his head and captured her lips in a gentle kiss.

Merle's eyes widened and she took a step back fretting to herself. _Ye Gods! Don't they start fast! Oh well, I guess it's only fair since they haven't seen each other in so long._

Merle started to get a bit uncomfortable and beat a hasty retreat to the door while calling out, "I'll go tell the kitchen to start breakfast!" With a scurry of paws on stone floor, she was gone.

Hitome pulled away from Van and rested her head against his chest, "I think we embarrassed Merle."

Van snorted, "I think she brought it on herself." His gaze became serious, "That's the first time we've kissed."

"Oh believe me, I know. I'm sure it won't be the last." With a light laugh and a peck on his cheek, Hitome extracted herself from his embrace, "Didn't she just mention breakfast?"

"Hey not so fast, we just got here!"

"Sorry Van but I'm starving! It's a long trip from the mystic moon you know!" With that she followed Merle's line of retreat and Van leapt after to keep up.

Van took her hand out in the corridor and led her to a private terrace overlooking the gardens. A table had been set there and Merle stood patiently beside a large serving trolley heaped with food. "Oh there you are!" She called with a wave and a laugh, "I thought maybe you'd gotten _lost_," She said with a sly smile to Van.

"Cut it out Merle, let's eat."

Hitome took a seat where she could see the whole garden stretched toward the side of the mountain. Construction crews could be heard in the castle and the city beyond. "Everything's being rebuilt so fast, when will it all be finished?"

Van took a moment to consider the renovations, "Everything should be finished in a little over a year."

"I'd love to see it when it's finished."

"I hope you'll be seeing it for many years after it's finished."

Hitome smiled and turned her happy eyes back to the garden. After a few moments, a slight frown creased her brow and Van gazed at her in worry. "What's the matter?"

Hitome's frown deepened, "Van, what's happened to all the birds?" Hitome clearly remembered there being many birds in the garden on her last visit, but now she was sure she hadn't seen one since she had returned to Gaea.

Van's face fell suddenly and tears welled in Merle's eyes. "Wow," the cat woman muttered, "In the excitement of you showing up, I'd almost forgotten."

"Gaea is being destroyed the same way Atlantis was."

Hitome gasped, "What? But we stopped it last time. We saved them."

Van shook his head sadly. "We diverted it, postponed it, but it's beginning to be more rapid now. About a month after you left, the birds began to disappear. Then, a year later, the land dragons, then the sea dragons, and finally, the air dragons. The energists were next to disappear, and finally, a month ago, the levi-stones started to fail."

"What does it mean?"

"It means that Gaea fading, the things that hold it together are failing."

"But why?"

"Because the power of Atlantis wants to return home, to go back to the mystic moon."

Van gazed sadly across the lush green garden. "There's a war coming, All of Gaea versus one man. Once it's ended, Gaea will burn to nothing and everything on it will die, and then the power of Atlantis will return to the Mystic Moon to destroy it as well."

Hitome raised her eyes to the mystic moon above. "I guess peoples wishes just conflict too much to be overcome."

"All of that destructive conflict forged itself into a single entity, that entity took over a mortal, and now the body is used to help the power meet its goals."

"Who's body?"

"Allen Schezar's."

* * *

A. N.: Do hope you're all enjoying. Should only be another chapter after this one. I'd post it all together it I wasn't so lazy…

Chapter Version 1.1: Fixed typos

Future Changes: None planned


	2. The Wishes of Destruction

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. Since there's a big Sephiroth reference, I'd better add in that I don't own him either.

Author Note: Well, thanks to those of you have read what I posted so far. You'll have to forgive any mistakes I've made since this was written pretty late at night. This is my first Escaflowne fic so I hope you're all enjoying J 

* * *

"Who's body?"

"Allen Schezar's."

Hitome wasn't aware she had dropped her glass until it shattered on the stone floor beneath her. "That's who…"

Van raised his eyebrows, "Hitome?"

"That's who he looks like. but he's changed so much."

"What are you talking about Hitome?"

"His face, it's hard to recognize, it's become perfect, like an angel. But he only has one wing."

Van shook his head, "I don't understand what you're saying Hitome."

"I've seen it in my dreams. Every night for the past four years I've dreamt of a man walking across a battlefield with one wing stretched behind him. And his eyes…"

Van spoke quietly, "They say that madness is the only fate for those who see the eyes of Allen Schezar."

"What has he done so far?"

"A three sided civil war broke out in Austuria. The entire kingdom was decimated. Dryden, Melerna, Celina, and Marlene are all dead, either by his hands or at the hands of rioters. Then he moved towards Fraid. We've agreed to help reinforce Chid's forces, and armies are mobilizing from Alania and Zaibach as well. It will go on like this until he's destroyed every nation of this world."

Hitome's eyes widened with a sudden realization. "You said all the drag-energists had disappeared?"

"Yes, about a year ago."

"But you still have my pendant."

Van reached into his tunic and pulled forth the slender gold chain. "Of course I still have…" Realization hit like a thunder bolt. "Your pendant!" He cried. "It must be the last energist in all of Gaea."

"Van, you mustn't let Allen have it. He needs it, I could see it in my dream. He needs it to go to Earth. Maybe he won't destroy Gaea until he finds it."

"Very well, I'll leave it here with you."

"Leave it here with- Van! You're not going are you?"

Merle sighed. "It's no use, I've already begged him not to go. He just won't listen."

Van set his face. "To save Gaea, some one must kill Allen. It should be one of his friends."

"But why is anyone fighting at all? It's just giving him what he needs."

"Because of the conflicting desires."

Hitome blinked, "Huh?"

Van stared up towards the mountain's distant summit. "If I refused to send an Army to battle in Fraid, Someone would kill me and take over. Then their supporters and mine would battle, destroying Fenelia and furthering Allen's goals. This power must be destroyed at its source. We must kill Allen Schezar."

"When is your army leaving?"

"We march at dawn tomorrow." He pulled the pendant over his head. "Here, you might as well take this now." He dropped it into her outstretched hand. Her hand pulled back to clasp it against her heart.

Hitome's eyes met Van's for a few more moments but neither could think of anything to say. They dropped their gazes and breakfast was finished in silence.

* * *

Hitome awoke yet again that night crying Van's name into the dark. "No, Van! Why? I've come all this way after so long only to lose you again!" The eastern sky waxed gray outside her window. Hitome rose to her feet and puled on a robe against the chill.

As she walked towards it, her door opened silently. Van Fanel stood, full armor gleaming dully in the gray pre-dawn light. "I didn't think you'd be awake."

Hitome shook her head, "How could I sleep?"

Van stepped forward and gathered her into his arms, careful of his armor. "Oh please Van," she whispered, "don't go."

"I must, I have to save Gaea."

"But if you go know, I just know I'll never see you again."

"If I don't go, there won't be a world left for you to see me in."

Hitome closed her eyes and listened to his heart beat through his steel chest plate. "Why couldn't we just be ordinary?"

"What?"

"Why couldn't we just be ordinary. I could just be a normal girl who couldn't see the future, and you could be a normal boy, not the King of a nation that's about to burn to the ground."

"Hitome, you told me a long time ago that wishes come true, I still believe they do. And I believe that our love will pull us through, I believe my love for you and my wish to come back to you will save this world."

She kissed him then. Deeply, passionately, desperate and frightened. It was over far too soon and she sunk back onto her bed while he silently left her room.

* * *

An hour later she stood with Merle and watched as column after column of troops marched out through the city gates. "Why aren't there any Melufs?"

"No way to power them with all the energists gone. I've heard that Zaibach has fixed some to work by burning a lot of oil, but it was too late to convert any of our own."

"How long will it take them to reach Fraid?"

"Two weeks, they have to go the whole way on foot, no airships have worked since the levi-stones failed."

"Do you think we'll ever see him again?"

Merle was quiet for a moment, then she turned her head away and whispered, "No."

* * *

Two weeks passed in a haze of dreading days and sleepless nights. Finally, merchants arrived with word that the battle had moved west again and Fenelia's forces had joined it three days earlier than expected.

Hitome was standing up on the roof when, for the first time, she had her dream during the day. Merle caught her collapsing body and fretted while Hitome stared unseeingly into the sky. Finally, her eyes regained their color and she whispered, "It's happening now. They're all dying."

"Don't say that!" Merle scolded with a terrified look on her face. Tears matted the fur on her cheeks. "Please don't say that."

"But I saw Allen. I saw him walking through a field with fire spreading from his feet. And everyone he looked at fell down dead!"

Merle crouched down and covered her ears. "I don't want to hear this," she hissed.

"But Van's going to die!"

Merle banged her hand against the floor, "Stop saying that, we can't do anything."

"I have to go to him."

Merle glared at her fiercely. "Oh yeah? How're you gonna do that?"

Hitome held her pendant out so that it dangled in front of the cat-woman's nose. "With this."

Hitome shot to her feet and ran down the many flights of stairs leading to the gardens. She bolted through the tree lined paths, vaulting over some of the smaller hedgerows. Finally she skidded to a halt in a clearing by the mountain side. The gigantic suit of armor crouched there lifeless and unused for years. Hitome approached it slowly to stare into the dark stone on its chest. Then, tentatively, she pulled forth her pendant and pushed it in. The stone swallowed the pendant and blazed to life. It's hatch hissed open and she slowly climbed inside.

"Hitome wait!" Merle burst into the clearing. "Even if you fly, it'll still be too late!"

"Goodbye Merle."

"Hitome, don't go!"

The cockpit hissed shut and Hitome inserted her arms and legs into the control manipulators.

"Escaflowne. Take me to Van!"

A blue-white light lanced down from above and the white Guymeluf disappeared into the heavens.

* * *

_Just like my dream, It's exactly the same!_

Smoke billowed up from the scorched soil, choking the sky in a black haze. Red rays of sunlight lanced weakly through the shifting clouds of ash. Gigantic bits of wreckage loomed here and there in the dim light, discernible only as broken armored hulks. Broken swords and broken bodies littered across the blasted ground and fires still guttered fitfully in hollows.

_But this time it is real! I can feel the flames and smell the smoke._

And there, directly before her were Van Fanel and Allen Schezar. Van leapt into the air and scythed his sword downward, Allan dodged to the side with inhuman grace and speed. _It's as if his feet don't even touch the ground!_

Van swung towards him and again, Allen drifted out of reach with ease. It was then that Hitome noticed the thick black cloth tied across his eyes. _He's blind folded, covering his eyes so Allen can't kill him as quickly! He must be sensing him the way I taught him._

Allen drifted forward then and pressed his hand against Van's chest. Van screamed in pain and was thrown back across the scorched ground. Allen reached down to pull off the blind fold when Hitome screamed. "Van! No!"

Allen straightened then and turned his gaze on the Escaflowne. His eyes met hers and Hitome felt her heart freeze in her chest. Her vision tunneled and a panicked though lanced through her strangling brain. _I'm dying_.

Then, though nothing had changed, Hitome felt her heart beating again and felt her lungs starting to pump once more. Allen frowned and began to glide towards her.

"My Energist has arrived," He said simply.

Hitome opened the cockpit then and leapt to the ground. "Stop right there." She said forcefully.

With a supremely puzzled look on his face, Allen drifted to a halt.

"You're not going to kill anyone else, you won't destroy this world!"

Allen stared at her blankly and allowed his feet to touch the ground. His single wing unfurled from his back and stretched behind him, glowing brightly. "I am not destroying this world. It is all of you who are destroying it. Too many wishes are conflicting for any of them to come true. Things must be unmade so that wishes can come true."

"You're wrong! I love Van, and my wish to be with him is the same as his to be with me. Our wishing together is stronger than the separate wishes that give you power."

"It is just one wish. One more wish to conflict with the others."

"But every person on this planet has the same wish. To live on and to save this world. That's why they're here, fighting you. That wish together is also stronger than the your wishes apart."

Allen was silent and the fire in his eyes dulled just a bit.

"This world wishes to live on. These people wish to have a place to live. And I wish to be with Van. We wish these things with all our hearts. Wish them more than we wish anything else. There is no conflict. This is already a world where wishes can come true."

The fire blazed back into Allen's eyes and he stumbled forward, no longer floating, with his hand outstretched. "Give me the Energist! I must go home. I wish to go home."

"We wish for our home." Hitome said firmly as Allen collapsed heaving at her feet. "We are stronger than you, your energy is nothing without our conflict. We will end our conflict by wishing together with one heart. We wish to save Gaea."

Van rose to his feet, pulled off his blind fold and joined Hitome. "We wish to save Gaea."

A nearby wounded soldier sat up slowly and coughed out. "We wish to save Gaea."

And so the word spread across the wasted fields. Soldiers from every country and every land each adding to the solemn proclamation. "We wish to save Gaea."

A hand, grasping and claw-like rose towards Hitome from the shuddering figure on the ground. "You m-must… give me… give me…"

A horrendous scream rent the battlefield as Allen's wing burst into flame. He rocked backwards and screamed towards the smoke choked sky. The fire in his eyes was out of control, no longer cold, but blazing hot. Twin orbs of flame began to glow inside his head, growing brighter and more violent until they raged forth to consume his body. With one last scream that such scorched remains could not possibly have produced, the fires melded together and lanced upwards in a stream of red-white light. The clouds of smoke were blasted in every direction, clearing the sky above. All of the remaining fires blew out in a violent gust of wind and one by one, survivors pulled to their feet.

Van turned and smiled down on her with love shining in his eyes. "You came."

Hitome nodded. "I came, and I'm never leaving again."

Van's wings burst forth to encircle them as he embraced her.

Far across the fields, a single tree was still standing. With a clear call, a pure white bird flew into the noon sky.

A.N.: Yawn! Well, that's the end of that. Anyway, if anyone wants to see an epilogue to this, (which would be pure H/V fluff I can tell you right now) just say so in your reviews. Speaking of reviews, I appreciate them greatly, I even accept flamers from all of you Literary Dilandaus out there.


End file.
